Ike Quebec – The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions [Stereo] (Blue Note Tone Poet Series Edition)

(AAA) — Lacquers cut from the original analog master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio.

Ike Quebec — The Complete 45 Sessions

180-gram gatefold 3LP

Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original master tape

Plated and pressed at RTI

The Blue Note Tone Poet Series was born out of Blue Note President Don Was' admiration for the exceptional audiophile Blue Note LP reissues presented by Music Matters. Was brought Joe Harley (from Music Matters), a.k.a. the "Tone Poet," on board to curate and supervise a series of reissues from the Blue Note family of labels.

The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions of Ike Quebec collects a phenomenal body of work produced between 1959-62 by a key player in the Blue Note Story. The saxophonist had recorded a series of 78s for Alfred Lion in the 1940s and also served as a talent scout who encouraged Lion to record important figures of the emerging bebop scene including Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell.

After a difficult period through the 1950s during which Quebec fell off the scene, Lion reconnected with his friend and began to reintroduce Quebec's music to jazz fans in 1959 with a series of 45 jukebox singles that were well received and revealed a formidable stylist very much at the top of his game. His full-throated yet utterly relaxed sound was ideally suited to a wide range of material from ballads to blues.

The success of Quebec's comeback inspired Lion to keep going, capturing four sessions of material with a revolving cast of musicians that yielded classic tracks including "A Light Reprieve," "Blue Monday," and "What A Difference A Day Makes." Quebec would also go on to record several album sessions including the timeless soul jazz classics Heavy Soul, Blue & Sentimental, and Bossa Nova Soul Samba, capping a prolific end to a career that would be tragically cut short with his death from lung cancer at age 44 in 1963.

(Above description from AcousticSounds.com)